Classroom Kit for National Poetry Month

If you are involved in educating children (a classroom or homeschool teacher, a school or public librarian, a reading specialist, a PTA member, an administrator, etc.) here’s a free gift for you.

Celebrate National Poetry Month and Young People’s Poetry Week, April 16-22, with a free classroom kit suitable for grades 2-5. The kit includes a full-color poster featuring a poem and art from Douglas Florian’s new poetry collection, Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars. You’ll also receive a pack of special poetry-writing pencils for your students, a Florian author bio, and tips on writing poetry from Douglas Florian himself!

(Allow 2-4 weeks for delivery; offer good while supplies last.)

http://www.harcourtbooks.com/TK8/

Is Education in the US Improving?

After reading the National Goals adopted by the former President Bush and Congress in 1989 and reflecting upon the situation in my school and many other schools, which are in the national spotlight, I am first inclined to say, what happened? Why have we not seen these goals followed through? What can we do to change this situation, in order to achieve these goals in a reasonable time? I will address each of the eight National Education goals of and reflect how or if they have been met at my school and note whether I feel the goal is still relevant.

The first National Education Goal was School Rediness. This goals states, "by the year 2000, all children in America will start school ready to learn." In my school district there are a few "Head Start" programs available for pre-school children. These programs help to prepare pre-school children for kindergarten and routines found in school. However, there have not been enough programs implemented to prepare each child entering kindergarten in the City School District. Many parents are not even aware that their children should be entered into a preschool program that will give their child a successful start in the school system. In fact, many children are still not receiving proper health care, immunizations, and nutrition. Every child in the City School District does have the ability to eat breakfast before school and lunch during school hours. I feel that this goal is relevant. However, without additional funding for free services and parental support and understanding of this goal, children will not be prepared for school in the preschool years.

The second National Education Goal was School Completion. This goal states, "By the year 2000, the high school graduation rate will increase to at least 90 percent." In my High School approximately 700 freshmen are admitted each year. Our graduation of seniors is approximately 110 each year, or 16% of our freshman class graduates. Therefore, our dropout rate is close to 84%. Our High School likes to hide this fact by creatively saying our students are being transferred to other sites in the City School District and to Alternative Programs. However, it is accurate to say that 84% of our incoming freshmen will not graduate from our high school. My high school's minority rate is close to 85% with 70% of students on some form of government assistance. There has not been a decrease in dropout rates in the last 10 years, in fact more students have dropped out because of higher graduation requirements and failure to pass New York State mandated competency tests. This goal is also still relevant. However, a better plan to attack the problem of dropouts especially in the minority population needs to be addressed.

The third National Education Goal was Student Achievement and Citizenship. This goal states, "by the year 2000, all students will leave grades 4, 8 and 12 having demonstrated competency over challenging subject matter including English, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history, and geography, and every school in America will ensure that all students learn to use their minds well, so they may be prepared for responsible citizenship, further learning, and productive employment in our Nation's modern economy." From my experience at my High School, the students who are entering 9th grade are not entering with the competency needed in these various subject areas. They are simply being pushed through the grades because the middle schools are crowded and they cannot stay there. Many of my 9th grade students read at an elementary school level without comprehension of what they are reading. They are not familiar with how to use a ruler and must use a calculator for simple math problems. They are not aware of the world around them. They do not want to be responsible for their own deeds and rarely pick up after themselves after a science lab period or after eating their lunch in the cafeteria. I really worry about how these students will survive in the world once they drop out or graduate from High School. I do not think this goal is relevant to my current High School. Instead of demanding further testing and competency, we should try to enable students to see the connection between the subjects and material they are learning in High School and the "real world". Once students see this connection, they may be more willing to learn and explore and become responsible with their actions and belongings.

The fourth National Education Goal was Teacher Education and Professional Development. This goal states, "By the year 2000, the Nation's teaching force will have access to programs for the continued improvement of their professional skills and the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to instruct and prepare all American students for the next century." In my school district new teachers are given mentors and expected to attend a number of professional development programs throughout the school year. Many of these programs are convenient and located right in the same building in which you teach. Many are interesting and directly applicable to the classroom setting. I feel that this goal is relevant and educators should have the opportunity to continue to learn and network with other educators.

The fifth National Education Goal was Mathematics and Science. This goal states, "By the year 2000, United States students will be first in the world in mathematics and science achievement." I feel that our country and my school are far from this goal. It is a well-known fact that the United States has not surpassed every known country in the fields of math and science. Our country is well behind several other industrialized counties whose children are more advanced in these fields. At the beginning of the school year, the freshmen science students in my classroom are not aware of measurements in the metric system and cannot distinguish between the metric and our US measurement system. Therefore, the concepts of the metric system are still not being taught in the younger grades. Additionally, there continues to be a decrease in the number of math and science teachers with a well-known shortage in these areas across the United States. I do not feel that this is a relevant goal for our country. Why does the United States need to be first? We should be more concerned with what are students are learning and retaining through the years, than the world ranking of our students is in a particular area.

The sixth National Education Goal was Adult Literacy and Lifelong Learning. This goal states, "By the year 2000, every adult American will be literate and will possess the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in global economy and exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship." My students often tell me that they cannot get help to complete their homework because their parents can not read. Therefore, I am very aware that we, as a nation, have not reached this goal. Many of these adults feel that they have "gotten by" their entire life without the ability to read, so why start now. If we are to reach every adult, we must somehow change the attitudes of these adults in order to encourage them to learn this vital skill. This is an important goal for our country. We may not reach every adult, but we should certainly increase funding in order to do our best to teach every American who desires to learn how to read.

The seventh National Education Goal was Safe, Disciplines, and Alcohol - and Drug-Free Schools. This goal states, "By the year 2000, every school in the United States will be free of drugs, violence, and the unauthorized presence of firearms and alcohol and will offer a disciplined environment conductive to learning." Instead of our school becoming more organized and safe, our schools across the nation have become out of control. Rampant school shooting, drugs being sold on campus, students who outright threaten, abuse, and commit violent acts against other classmates, students who refuse to listen to authority figures, and this is unfortunately becoming the norm across America. Administrators tell educators that our schools are safe, but teachers often wonder why our schools are getting worse and not better. In my school, when I walk up and down stairwells and halls, I often smell pot being smoked, I see students walking out of classrooms, I hear students yelling and screaming in the classroom, I see students throwing objects at each other, etc. We have police officers permanently stationed at my school and sentries who are supposed to handle violent incidents or students who show defiance to authority. But their presence in my school is not a threat, students will continue to act in this way because they do not care about the consequences and there is no parental support to change these behaviors. As I look over all of these goals, to me this one is the most important and most relevant. We, as a nation and educators, need to take back control of our schools from the students.

The eighth National Education Goal of was Parental Participation. This goal states, "By the year 2000, every school will promote partnerships that will increase parental involvement and participation in promoting the social, emotional, and academic growth of children." In my school, there is an active PTA with very few members. During Parent-Teacher conferences, only a handful of parents come in to discuss their child's progress. I send notes home with my students and via the US mail and call parents on the telephone. Yet, parents do not overly support their child's education by becoming actively involved or initiating contact. Students often tell me that their parent will not help them on homework assignments or review their work. It is unfortunate that we are raising a generation of students who see the lack of parental support and will most likely continue this cycle with their own children. This goal is also important in the fact that in order to increase student participation and completion of work, we must have parental support. If the parents do not support the educators, the students will see not consequences when they do not complete assignments, do not learn material and fail a course or grade.

Overall, I feel that the educational goals previously mentioned have not been met. Is eighteen years not long enough? Should this type of work be extended over the next 25 or 50 years? It will be interesting to note what the educational goals for the new President will entail. I would like to see him or her address these goals, which have not been met.

"Out of Sync" High Schools

Keller’s (2001) article sites several important aspects of today’s youth which should be taken into account when reflecting on the high school experience. These include the studies that indicate the sleep rhythms of adolescents are quite different than adults. Teenagers tend to stay up later in the evening and sleep in later. In my current high school this is reflected by stragglers into school who tend to wake up late on a daily basis. We have an extended Homebase period every day. This gives students the time in the early am to socialize, visit teachers for extra help and catch up on homework that was not completed the previous night. Our extended Homebase period allows for nearly full attendance by the time school actually begins at 8:00 am. Other examples provided by Keller (2001) include that students are often rule-bound and schools do not build “on their desire to connect to the real world.” Many classes provide “too much seat time” and lack purpose.

Viadero (2001) continues with the observation that “1/2 of high school seniors leave school today with out the skills they need to succeed in work or further study.” In addition, in urban schools, “1/2 of freshmen disappear before reaching the end of the senior year.” In my current urban high school, this last quote is currently true. Our freshman incoming class is usually around 300 pupils, however or senor graduating class was just over 100 students. By the time the students reach the upper levels, many have chosen alternative GED programs, dropped out, or transferred to alternative vocational programs. We as educators are obviously not meeting the needs of today’s young students.

References:
Keller, B. (2001). Schools Seen as Out of Sync With Teens. World Wide Web: http://educationweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=33develop.h20
Viadero, D. (2001). Getting Serious About High School. World Wide Web: http://www.edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=30highschool.h20

Are Special Ed Students treated too Special?

It is without question that students with special needs may not be excluded from school based upon their handicap. However, the safety of other students may be at stake in some situations regarding students who are emotionally or behaviorally disturbed.

There was a specific situation that occurred in my classroom that put both regular ed students and a student who had an IEP for a learning disability as risk. With out anyone's knowledge, one of my IEP students had brought a cigarette lighter to school. During one of my classes, he flicked the lighter on under another students arm. I saw the flash of light, and immediately knew what he had done. I looked at him and asked him to go to his administrator's office and stay there until I came down at the end of the period. I also had a paraprofessional in my room (because of the number of special ed students in the room this period) and I asked him to walk the student to his administrator and tell the administrator what had happened. The para as well as most of the students in the classroom did not see the incident. Previous to this, the student had never had a problem in my class or any of his classes this year. He stated that he was not aware that a lighter was a weapon and now realized he should not have brought it to school. The student was suspended from my class for 3 days and given in school suspension and several after school detentions. If this had been a regular education student, I feel the consequences would have been much more severe, but he was protected by his classification.

Based on this situation and others, It is my opinion that special education students who are emotionally or behaviorally disturbed should be placed in a classroom where there is constant supervision and low teacher to student ratio's. These students need to be reminded of school rules and acceptable behavior more often than traditional regular education students.

Prayer in School? NY saying Yes?

The U.S. Supreme Court's officially banned prayer in public schools in 1963. This nationwide decision to separate church and state has lead to controversy since this time, across our nation. In particular, since the tragedy of September11th, many in our nation have reverted to religion to make sense of the world problems our nation is now facing. What is interesting is that The House passed the non-binding resolution, “suggesting that schools set aside a sufficient period of time to allow children to pray for, or quietly reflect on behalf of, the nation during this time of struggle against the forces of international terrorism" (McQueen, 2001). Therefore, is there true separation of church and state, or is there separation when it is convenient for the government?

In New York, a recent problem developed when the chancellor of New York City Schools, Harold E. Levy, “ordered the schools to accommodate Muslim students who wish to pray during the Ramadan month” (New York Times, 2001, November 24). This order was later rescinded by Levy after reaction from the Catholic League, but Muslim students were extended special on-campus praying privileges, and were allowed to leave class during their daily prayer time (D'Agostino, 2001).

Through researching this topic, it appears that there is not a clear separation of church and state in New York. Last year, the Supreme Court ruled “to allow the Good News Club, a religious organization, to conduct its after-school Bible study and prayer program for elementary school students in a public school classroom in New York” (New York Times, 2001, June 12). With this decision and others across the country, it is clear that this is an ongoing controversy across our nation.

References:
D'Agostino, J.A. (2001, November 26). New York Schools Flip-Flop on Ramadan. Human Events 57(44). p. 4.

McQueen, A. (2001, November 24). SchoolPrayers for a Nation at War? CQ Weekly 59(45). p. 2775.

New York Times. (2001, June 12). Proselytizing in the Schools. New York Times. 150(51782) p. A32.

New York Times. (2001, November 17). Schools to Allow Ramadan Prayer. New York Times. 151(51940) p. D2.

Multicultural Classrooms

When researching the topic of multiculturism a in today’s society, educators are able to find many resources, which deal with the topic of appropriate practices in a multicultural classroom. Daily, educators deal with the many faces of diversity in the classroom. Each student’s ethnic background, race, gender, socio-economic status, sexual preference, age and religion need to be considered when developing a curriculum, classroom rules and procedures, and during the evaluation of students. These differences also need to be taken into account when dealing with the difference of opinions and conflict in the classroom.

According to Ramsey (2000, p171), “all students experience a course differently based on their race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and other group identities. As a result, students from different cultural groups will frame a course, conceptualize ideas, respond to ideas, relate to discussions and class exercises, and expect different things from a course.” It is imperative that educators are aware of these differences and respond to these differences appropriately, in order to facilitate learning and critical thinking in every classroom. Educators must be always on alert as to the perceptions of course material and why a particular student may be addressing an issue or topic in a different way than expected. By addressing this issue, students are less apt to become isolated in their individual thoughts and ideas. A universal goal for each classroom should be to escape the ethnocentric ideas and attitudes, which will in turn allow students to become respecting, accepting and tolerant of each other.

As an educator begins to facilitate an attitude of acceptance in the classroom, a set of goals should be adopted and implemented by the educator. Ramsey (2000, p172) has stated that instructional goals may include “(a) to acknowledge and celebrate cultural differences; (b) to increase students’ awareness of and comfort with their own and others’ cultural identifications; (c) to show students how ethnocentrism, or the tendency to view their own way of doing things as the only or right way of doing things, is often culturally exclusionary and prejudicial; (d) to help students understand the relationship between ethnocentric thinking and power.” In addition to educational goals, Ramsey (2000) further encourages and states the necessity for multicultural classroom rules. Suggested “ground rules include requiring students to (a) respect others’ opinions and confidences during classroom disclosures, (b) permit others to finish their statements before responding, (c) avoid personal criticism and ‘put downs’ of other student’s reactions or position they do not share, and (d) commit to understanding the latter from the cultural worldview, or contextual framework, of the speaker” (Ramsey, 2000, p175). Educators are aware of the necessity for rules in the classroom for every age group and/or class. By stating expectations up front to students, educators are able to model appropriate attitudes and respect for all differences in each individual student. Through modeling, students will display acceptable behaviors in the classroom, which should be continued as students enter society.

Educators must also address their own personal feelings, thoughts and issues in regard to multiculturalism, before attempting to implement this type of curriculum. Educators must not hold preconceived or “actual barriers to education by figuring [out]… who is potentially educable and who is not” (Nelson-Barber & Harrison, 1996, p262). A new educator should seek additional professional development and mentoring during this transition stage of implementation.

When incorporating a multicultural curriculum into the classroom, De Melendez & Ostertag (1997) suggest an approach that would occur in stages. New educators are encouraged to explore the first stages as they gain experience teaching in a diverse multicultural classroom. “Approach I: Teaching the Exceptional and the Culturally Different” includes teaching to the needs of the individual students. These needs may include a language or disability barrier, or a low-achieving student (De Melendez & Ostertag, 1997, p193). “Approach II: The Human Relations Approach” promotes, directs and leads students “to a sense of unity, tolerance, and acceptance of social diversity within the existing framework of American society” (De Melendez & Ostertag, 1997, p195). Through this approach educators encourage the display of a positive attitude and relationships among all students. “Approach III: Single-Group Studies” focuses on “a particular cultural group or element of diversity [which] becomes the focus of study” (De Melendez & Ostertag, 1997, p.196). De Melendez & Ostertag (1997) caution the educator when selecting a topic for study. Educators are warned that, the topic should not be taken out of context. An appropriate topic should be used in order “to help the child develop a proactive awareness about social and cultural issues” (De Melendez & Ostertag, 1997, p198). Educators should use this opportunity in order to encourage the student’s awareness of cultures different from their own culture. “Approach IV: Multicultural Education … is based on the importance and value of cultural pluralism in American society … students are led to analyze social issues involving bias, prejudice, and racism” (De Melendez & Ostertag, 1997 p198). During this stage of multicultural education, it is noted that the educator may need to drastically alter and/or make additions to the current classroom curriculum. Finally, through this last approach, “Approach V: Education That is Multicultural and Social Reconstructionist” (De Melendez & Ostertag, 1997, p200), the educator expects students to make or attempt to make social changes in society in regard to current multicultural thinking. “Students become active participants in the elimination of social oppression” (De Melendez & Ostertag, 1997, p200). Through these suggested, progressive approaches, educators are able to guide students into becoming accepting, tolerant members of society.

As educators use the previously mentioned approaches or other multicultural education approaches in the classroom, it is important to remember “that there is no one way of seeing, experiencing, or defining the world” (Nelson-Barber & Harrison, 1996, p256). In addition, it is equally important for educators to not rely on one method of teaching. A variety of methods should be used and incorporated into the curriculum, which must include “methods for understanding and analyzing their texts, including note taking, discussion (both whole class and small group), dramatization, graphic response, and personal and critical writing” (Nelson-Barber & Harrison, 1996, p257). Once these issues are addressed, educators open up the opportunity for all students to encounter a “rich schooling experience” (Nelson-Barber & Harrison, 1996, p256).

De Melendez, W.R. & Ostertag, V. (1997). Teaching Young Children in Multicultural Classrooms: Issues, Concepts, and Strategies. Albany, NY: Delmar Publishers.

Nelson-Barber, S. & Harrison, M. (1996). Bridging the Politics of Identity in a Multicultural Classroom. Theory into Practice 35(4). 256-264.

Ramsey, M. (2000). Monocultural Versus Multicultural Teaching: How to Practice What We Preach. Journal of Humanistic Counseling, Education & Development 38(3). 170-184.